1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an electric power device, an electric power generation method, and a production method of the electric power device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A primary battery has been conventionally used as an electric power source (electric power device) of an implantable medical device, for example, a cardiac pacemaker or an insulin infusion device. The primary battery cannot be used once discharged, and when the primary battery is used as an electric power source of an implantable medical device, an incision needs to be made in the body of a patient for each replacement of the battery. This is not always desirable in view of physical and economic aspects of the patient.
Thus, a self-generating electric power source that does not require battery replacement is desirably used as an electric power source of an implantable medical device or the like.
A conventional electric power source that does not require battery replacement includes, for example, an electric power device using a solar cell or a piezoelectric element (for example, see John Kymissis, MIT, “Parasitic Power Harvesting in Shoes”, Second IEEE International Conference on Wearable Computing, August 1998).
However, it is difficult to use the conventional electric power source that does not require battery replacement as an electric power source of an implantable medical device. Specifically, the solar cell generates electric power under light irradiation, but when the solar cell is implanted in the body, the light irradiation is blocked by skin or cloths of a human, which makes it difficult to ensure a sufficient amount of generated electric power. Meanwhile, the electric power device using the piezoelectric element generally generates electric power by directly applying a force to the piezoelectric element to deform the piezoelectric element, and once the piezoelectric element is implanted in the body, the force cannot be directly applied thereto, and thus such an electric power device is difficult to apply to the implantable medical device.
Therefore, it is desired to provide a new electric power device that solves the above-described problems and can be applied as an electric power source of an implantable medical device, an electric power generation method, and a production method of the electric power device.